The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
THE GLORIFICATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
31. Righteousness leadeth unto heaven and it bringeth wealth also: what is there that is more profitable than Righteousness?
32. There is no greater good than Righteousness, nor no greater ill than the forgetting of it.
33. Be thou unremitting in the doing of good deeds : do them with all thy might and by every means.
34. Be pure in heart : all righteousness is contained in this one commandment: all other things are nought but empty sound.
35. Avoid envy and greed, anger and harsh words : that is the way to acquire righteousness.
36. Say not in thy heart, I shall be righteous by and bye, but begin to do good works without delaying: for it is Righteousness will be thy undying companion on the day of thy death.
37. Ask me not, Where is the good of Righteousness ? Look at the bearer of the palanquin and him that rideth on it.[1]
38. If thou do good all thy life without a single waste day, thou wallest up the road to future births.
39. That alone is delight which cometh of Righteousness : all else is pain and shame.
40. That action alone is worth doing which is righteous : and all action must be shunned which is unrighteous.
HERE ENDETH THE INTRODUCTION
- ↑ It is the righteous deeds done in past births that have made the one the rider, and the unrighteous deeds done in the same past births that have made the other the bearer, of the palanquin.